Die cleaning machine



Sept' 27, 1955 J. 1. THOMAS ETAL DIE CLEANING MACHINE 2 sheets-sheet 1Filed April 27, 1950 dd Z 7 @maw/UM MyW/ e www M www@ @JJ y Spt. 27,1955 J. J. THOMAS ET AL DIE CLEANING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledApri1 27, 195o ...III :lllll .IIII ...i-IIN Innen/22219: @694m 5. @4P/D,fof/DH i Cf/WQ/erz ma JOHN JT -7HOMQ5 /e/f aff/@J DIE CLEANING MACHINEJohn J. Thomas, Joseph E. Schwartz, and Gerald S. Clapp, Cleveland, OhioApplication April 27, 1950, Serial No. 158,446

2 Claims. (Cl. 134-83) The present invention relates to die cleaningapparatus and more particularly to a continuous die cleaning machineespeciallyl suitable for cleaning wire-drawing dies.

In the servicing of wire-drawing dies, it is necessary, from time totime, to rework the inner contours of the dies as they become worn fromuse in drawing wire. The reworking of the dies involves ripping orlapping operations which are ordinarily followed by sizing and polishingsteps to condition the inner contours of the dies before they are putout into the wire mills for further wiredrawing use. Inasmuch as theconventional wire-drawing die is made of tungsten carbide it isnecessary, due to the hardness of this material, to make use of powderedabrasive materials, such as silicon carbide, boron carbide, diamondpowder, etc., suspended in carrying mediums, such as olive oil, in orderto remove or rework the surface of the die contours. After each ripping,lapping or die sizing operation, it is necessary that the abrasivematerial and its carrying agent be removed from the die prior to eachsucceeding ripping or lapping operation in order to avoid theintermingling of the coarser with the succeeding finer grades ofabrasive powders used in these operations.

Prior to our invention it was necessary to clean each die by hand,making use of solvents, such as gasoline, naphtha, carbon tetrachloride,etc., which solvents are toxic to many individuals thus causinginfections among the workers. In addition to being a health hazard, thehand cleaning operation was also time consuming and resulted in lowerproduction per man since it was necessary that he clean each and everydie by hand before proceeding with the next lapping, sizing or polishingstep.

lt is accordingly an object of our invention to provide a die cleaningapparatus which will automatically and continuously feed dies through abath of cleaning solution which, together with properly directed jets ofcompressed air, will thoroughly clean and dry the dies without the needof a workmans hand coming in contact with the solvent cleaning fluid.

This and other objects will be more apparent after referring to thefollowing specification and attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view showing the invention with the coverremoved;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section, taken on theline II-iI of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line III-III of Figure2; and

Figure 4 is a cross sectional View taken on the line IV-IV of Figure 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral 2indicates an elongated tank in which is positioned a track 4 forconveying dies W therethrough. Track 4-` is made up of a downwardlysloping entrance portion 6, an intermediate horizontal portion 8, and anupwardly sloping exit portion 10. The tank 2 contains a solvent l2, suchas gasoline, naphtha, carbon tetrachloride, etc.. The tank is filledwith solvent 12 up to a nited States Patent O level which will cause theintermediate horizontal portion 8 of track 4 to be completely submerged.A die feed magazine 14 is located at the entrance end 16 of the tank andcarries a stack of dies to be cleaned. A pusher arm 18, actuated by aneccentric 20 through levers 22 and 24 and link 26, feeds a die from themagazine 14 for every revolution of the eccentric 20 and thussuccessively pushes the preceding dies W on track 4 through tank 2. Theeccentric 20 is actuated by motor 21 through gear reducer 23. The diesenter and are submerged beneath the cleaning solution level at point Aand pass over air nozzles 28 which are connected to a main air chest 30.The air nozzles 28 are located below the solution level directly beneathand in line with the center of the track 4 and the openings in the dies.The track 4 is made up of two sections 32 and 34 spaced apart from eachother so as to allow for circulation of the solvent and air through thedies which slide along track 4 with the openings thereof in registrywith the open space between rails 32 and 34. Two air nozzles 36 arelocated above the track and have their nozzle openings at approximatelythe solution level or slightly therebelow. Air nozzles 36, similarly toair nozzles 28, are connected to air chest 30 but are suspended directlyover the track` so that the air jet issuing therefrom will be directedto the open space between the track sections and the die openings inregistry therewith.

The dies emerge from the cleaning solution 12 at point B and travel upthe sloping exit portion 10 of track 4. Immediately above and below theexit portion 10 are disposed pipe manifolds 38 and 40, respectively,which are also connected to air chest 30 and which have drilled thereinsmall openings 42 in line with their lengths whereby compressed air isemitted and directed downwardly from manifold 38 and upwardly frommanifold 40. The openings 42 are so positioned that the compressed airis directed toward the open space between the track sections and thustoward the openings of the dies traveling on the track. The compressedair emitted from the openings in manifolds 33 and 40 serves to dry thedies before they emerge from the exit end of the tank 2. Upon reachingthe end of track portion 10, the dies simply drop off the end of thetrack into a suitable container, such as a box or carton (not shown),positioned thereunder.

The top of tank 2 may be covered with a removable cover plate 46 whichhas bent up end portions 48 and 50 at the entrance and exit ends of tank2, respectively, to provide restricted openings for passage of the diesentering and leaving the tank.

The combined action of the solvent 12 and air agitation from the nozzles28 and 36 within the bath does a thorough job of removing the abrasivesand the oil carrier therefor from both the exterior surfaces of the diecasings and the surfaces of the inner contours of the die openings.Whenever the machine is not in operation, the abrasives settle to thebottom of the tank and remain undisturbed when the machine is next putinto operation because the agitation is localized within the vicinity ofthe track and the solution level which is some distance above the bottomof the tank, as best seen in Figure 2. It may be remarked here that thenumber of nozzles either above or below the track may bevvaried asdesired. Also, the top and bottom nozzles may be positioned in differentvertical planes, as shown in Figure 2, or the top and bottom nozzles maybe opposed in the same vertical plane if desired. We have used botharrangements and obtained satisfactory results. Also, manifolds similarto the manifolds 38 and 40 may be substituted for the nozzles 28 and 36to obtain the desired results. If it is desired, air nozzles ormanifolds may be used only below or only above the track instead of bothabove and below as shown.

A drain valve (not shown) may be attached to lthe bottom of tank 2 tofacilitate removal of the used solvent 12.

While one embodiment of our invention has been shown and described, itwill be apparent that other adaptations and modificationsI may be Vmadewithout departing from the scope of the following claims.

We claim.:

1. Die cleaning apparatus comprising an elongated tank adapted tocontain a solvent bath, a track in said tank along which dies areadapted to slide, said track being composed of a pair of spaced railsadapted to support dies with their openings in registry with the spacebetween the rails, said track including a portion sloping downwardlyinto the tank at each end and an intermediate portion beneath thesolvent bath level connecting said sloping portions, a plurality of airnozzles located below the solvent bath level directly beneath and inline with the center of the intermediate track portion with theiropenings terminating a short distance from said track and adapted todischarge Huid jets through the openings of dies traversing saidintermediate portion of said track, and a plurality of air nozzlesdisposed above said track directed downwardly and in line with thecenter of the intermediate track portion with their openings terminatingimmediately above the solvent bath level, the nozzles above said trackbeing oli-set vertically from those disposed below said track.

2. Die cleaning apparatus comprising an elongated tank adapted tocontain a solvent bath, a track in said tank along which a plurality ofdies having substantially at bottoms are adapted to slide on theirbottoms and in abutting relation, said track being composed of a pair ofspaced rails adapted to support dies with their openings in registrywith the space between the rails, said track including a portion slopingdownwardly into the tank at each end and an intermediate portion beneaththe solvent path level connecting said sloping portions, pusher means onthe upper end of one of said sloping portions for pushing the endmostdie of said plurality of dies to move said dies along said track, aplurality of air nozzles located below the solvent bath level directlybeneath and in line with the center of the intermediate track portionwith their openings terminating a short distance from the said track andadapted to discharge lluid jets through the openings of dies traversingsaid intermediate portion of said track, anda plurality of air nozzlesdisposed above said track directly downwardly and in line with thecenter of the intermediate track portion with their openings terminatingimmediately above the solvent bath level, the nozzles above said trackbeing off-set vertically from those disposed below said track.

References Cited` in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 829,547Schwarzenbach Aug. 28, 1906 969,238 Wright Sept. 6, 1910 1,393,6.33Moltrup Oct. 11, 1921 1,508,828 Wholey Sept. 16, 1924 1,561,503 BarryNov. 17, 1925 1,705,544 Schmidt Mar. 19, 1929 1,736,846 Cole Nov. 26,1929 2,114,782 Kohler Apr. 19, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS 255,067 SwitzerlandJan. 3, 1949 616,151 Great Britain 1949

